Chapter 263: Overload and Cold Steel

The red light on Commander Lu’s handheld remote glowed intensely as he pressed the override button again.

"Execute her!" Lu screamed, his face twisted with rage. "I order you! Kill her!"

Su Yun did not move.

Blood continued trickling from her left nostril, staining the collar of her tactical suit. Her entire body trembled as the neural command forced itself through her mind, demanding that she raise her rifle and shoot Lin Qing.

But another memory was fighting against it.

Lin Qing’s voice.

The people who had fought beside her.

The transponder behind her left ear struggled to maintain its control. Commander Lu kept increasing the signal, pushing the tiny device beyond what its internal circuits could withstand.

SPARK!

A sharp pop echoed through the command suite.

The red light beneath Su Yun’s skin flickered, flashed blue for an instant, and went dark.

The vacant look in her eyes vanished.

Su Yun blinked once.

Her awareness returned with startling clarity. She saw Lin Qing kneeling in restraints, Han Zheng and Ah Hua held by armed guards, and Dr. Sterling standing beside the obsidian desk with blood on his face.

Commander Lu was directly in front of her, still pointing the remote toward her head.

"What are you waiting for, you useless—"

Su Yun moved. Her right hand dropped to the knife sheath inside her boot. In one swift motion, she drew the short blade, turned, and drove it through Commander Lu’s right wrist.

THWACK!

"AAAGH!"

Commander Lu screamed as the blade pierced his wrist and struck the wooden edge of the dais behind him.

The remote slipped from his fingers, tumbling toward the marble floor. Su Yun pulled her blade free and brought her boot down on the device.

CRUNCH!

Plastic shattered beneath her heel. The circuit board cracked, and the red indicator went dark. The control was destroyed.

"The remote!" Dr. Sterling gasped, stumbling backward with one hand still pressed against his injured cheek. "Guards! Subdue her!"

For two seconds, the black-armored guards hesitated.

They had been watching three restrained prisoners. Now Commander Lu was screaming, Su Yun had turned against him, and their orders were coming from two different directions.

Han Zheng seized the opening.

"Move!" he shouted.

The power-dampening collar around his neck still suppressed his kinetic core, and his wrists remained bound behind his back. But years of combat training had taught him how to fight without relying entirely on his abilities.

He surged upward from his knees and drove his shoulder into the nearest guard’s chest.

BOOM!

The armored man stumbled backward, crashing against the base of a server rack. Han Zheng followed him down, using his weight to keep the guard from raising his rifle.

Beside him, Ah Hua lunged at the second guard.

His enhanced strength remained suppressed, and his mechanical arm had lost its powered assistance. But the steel limb was still heavy enough to deliver a painful blow if he could put his body behind it.

"Get off!" Ah Hua roared.

He swung his mechanical forearm into the guard’s helmet.

CLANG!

The impact cracked the composite visor and knocked the soldier sideways into a glass display case. Shattered glass scattered across the marble.

Lin Qing was still on her knees when the third guard reached for his sidearm. She twisted away, trying to avoid being grabbed again. Her boot caught the strap of a utility bag lying near the guards’ feet.

The bag slid across the polished floor, directly into the third guard’s path. He stepped backward, caught his heel against it, and lost his balance.

THUD!

His head struck the edge of the obsidian desk as he fell.

Lin Qing stared for half a second. Then she noticed the security keycard attached to his belt. She scrambled toward him, twisting her bound wrists behind her back until her fingers found the card’s plastic holder.

"Come on..."

She pulled it free. The card slipped from her fingers and landed beside her knee. Lin Qing caught it with the edge of her boot and kicked it across the floor.

"Han Zheng! The key!"

The card slid toward him, stopping near the guard he was struggling to restrain.

Han Zheng glanced down. The guard beneath him tried to raise his weapon, but Han Zheng struck him with his shoulder again, forcing him back against the floor.

He then twisted around, bringing his bound hands close enough to retrieve the card.

"Ah Hua! Hold the line!"

"Working on it!"

Ah Hua drove his shoulder into the second guard, keeping him pinned against the damaged display case. Han Zheng reached toward the release panel on his collar.

The security card touched the reader.

BEEP-CLICK.

The collar’s indicator flashed green. Its magnetic lock released, and the suppression needles withdrew from Han Zheng’s neck. The heavy iron ring fell onto the marble.

For a brief moment, Han Zheng stood completely still. Then his kinetic core awakened.

Energy surged through his channels, washing away the numbness that had held his power in check.

THUM-CRACK!

A concentrated pulse snapped the titanium link between his handcuffs. The broken restraints fell from his wrists.

Han Zheng immediately turned toward Ah Hua.

"Hold still!"

He stepped behind him and pressed the security card against the release panel on Ah Hua’s collar.

CLICK-HISSS.

The lock opened. Ah Hua gasped as his enhanced strength returned. Blue light flickered through the joints of his mechanical arm, and its servos began responding again.

He seized the chain connecting his handcuffs.

SNAP!

The link broke between his hands.

"Now we’re talking," Ah Hua growled.

Across the room, the remaining guards were struggling to recover their formation. The fourth guard raised his rifle toward Han Zheng, but Su Yun was already moving behind him.

She caught his weapon arm, pulled it downward, and struck the back of his knee. As he stumbled, she twisted the rifle from his grip and drove its stock into his helmet.

The guard collapsed. Su Yun stepped over him, raising the captured weapon to cover the others.

"Lin Qing! Stay down!"

Lin Qing ducked as Su Yun fired a short burst toward the remaining guards, forcing them away from their weapons.

Han Zheng extended his left hand. A controlled kinetic shockwave swept across the floor, knocking the two struggling guards into the wall.

Neither managed to get back up. Within moments, the command suite fell under the squad’s control.

Commander Lu staggered backward, clutching his bleeding wrist. His earlier confidence had vanished, replaced by a mixture of pain and disbelief.

"Doctor!" he shouted. "Get the research drive! Initiate emergency bulkhead lockdown!"

Dr. Sterling was already moving. He rushed toward the primary server terminal behind the obsidian desk, his white coat stained with blood from Lin Qing’s earlier attack.

His fingers moved quickly across the control panel.

A compartment opened beneath the terminal, revealing a black storage drive.

Dr. Sterling snatched it from the slot. Then he slammed his palm against a yellow emergency lever.

SECURITY ALERT: PURGE LOCKDOWN.

A siren sounded overhead. Red emergency lights began flashing across the command suite.

"Lin Qing!" Su Yun called, hurrying down the dais stairs.

She crouched beside her teammate and examined the cuffs around her wrists.

"Turn around."

Lin Qing obeyed.

Su Yun retrieved the fallen guard’s keycard and pressed it against the handcuff release.

BEEP-CLICK.

The cuffs opened.

Lin Qing pulled her hands free, rubbing her sore wrists.

"Su Yun..."

She looked into her eyes.

They were clear again.

"You’re back."

"I am," Su Yun replied.

For a moment, her expression softened.

"I’m sorry."

Lin Qing shook her head.

"You didn’t—"

"Save it for later!" Han Zheng shouted from the center of the room. "Lu is heading for the surface transit tube!"

Lin Qing looked up.

At the far end of the command suite, behind the elevated dais, a reinforced bulkhead was descending from the ceiling.

Beyond it lay a private corridor leading to Sector executive transit system.

Commander Lu stumbled through the narrowing opening, holding his injured arm against his chest. Dr. Sterling followed, clutching the research drive tightly.

"Stop them!" Ah Hua roared.

He charged toward the doorway, his mechanical arm raised. But Dr. Sterling reached the other side first. He turned back, his bloodied face twisting into a sneer, and struck the manual lockdown button on the corridor wall.

GROAN-HISSS!

The bulkhead dropped faster.

Han Zheng thrust his palm forward, sending a kinetic pulse toward the closing gap. The force struck the reinforced door, slowing its descent for a fraction of a second.

But the bulkhead’s anti-kinetic lining absorbed much of the impact.

BOOM!

The steel barrier slammed into the floor. Three locking bolts engaged with sharp metallic clicks.

Ah Hua reached it a moment too late. He struck the door with his mechanical fist.

CLANG!

A shallow dent appeared in the metal, but the barrier held.

"Locked from the other side!" Ah Hua shouted. "And the whole thing is reinforced!"

Han Zheng hurried up the dais stairs, his Power Core Rifle ready.

He examined the control panel beside the bulkhead.

The screen flashed crimson.

SURFACE TRANSIT LOCKOUT IN EFFECT.

EXECUTIVE EVACUATION POD LAUNCHED.

"They’re leaving," Lin Qing said, joining him.

Su Yun stepped to the adjacent terminal, quickly accessing the elevator tracking display.

"Commander Lu and Dr. Sterling took the executive pod," she reported.

"How long?" Han Zheng asked.

"Less than three minutes before they reach the surface containment perimeter."

Ah Hua slammed his fist against the wall.

"So we fought through this entire facility, broke their command center, and those two bastards still managed to run away?"

"Not yet," Han Zheng replied.

He studied the tracking display. The executive pod was traveling through a protected shaft, separated from the ordinary freight elevators and maintenance passages. Even if they managed to breach the bulkhead, they wouldn’t catch it from behind.

Lin Qing looked toward the ceiling.

"There has to be another route."

Su Yun nodded.

"Tier Two’s maintenance network connects to the upper service levels. But the lockdown has sealed most of the normal access points."

"Most?" Han Zheng repeated.

"Not all. The older service shafts use mechanical access panels. They weren’t designed around the current security network."

Ah Hua looked toward the left wall.

"Then we find one and climb."

Han Zheng turned to the others.

The command suite was littered with broken glass, discarded weapons, and unconscious guards. The master control remote had been destroyed, and Commander Lu had abandoned his own command center.

But the battle wasn’t over.

Worse, Han Zheng still didn’t know what had happened to Mark’s people in Tier Three.

Dr. Sterling had claimed that suppression gas had overwhelmed them, yet no one had confirmed the report.

He activated his communicator.

"Ye Lin, do you copy?"

Static crackled in his earpiece.

For a moment, there was no answer.

Then a familiar voice came through.

"Copy, Commander!"

Han Zheng’s shoulders relaxed slightly.

"Status on Tier Three."

"We’re holding!" Ye Lin replied. Gunfire could be heard faintly behind him. "Sterling activated the suppression vents, but Su Yun warned us about the system before she disappeared. We managed to shut the main valves and pull most of the prisoners out of the affected corridors."

Lin Qing glanced at Su Yun. She had apparently managed to warn Ye Lin before the secondary override took full control.

"Mark’s people?" Han Zheng asked.

"Still fighting. Some were affected by the gas, but the armory is secure. We’ve barricaded the lower elevator shafts, and Apex hasn’t managed to break through."

"Good. Keep the perimeter locked down. Don’t pursue beyond Tier Three."

"Understood, Commander. Where are you?"

"Tier Two. Lu and Sterling have fled toward the surface."

There was a brief pause.

"Do you need us to come up?"

"No. Hold your position. We can’t afford to lose the lower levels."

Han Zheng ended the transmission.

Ah Hua let out a breath.

"At least the old man and his people are still standing."

"They’ve earned their freedom," Lin Qing replied. "We’re not letting Apex take it away again."

Han Zheng moved toward the service panel on the left wall. A faded maintenance symbol was stamped into the metal, partly hidden behind a decorative wall section.

He examined its locking mechanism before switching his Power Core Rifle to maximum output.

Golden light spread along the weapon’s receiver.

Su Yun stepped beside Lin Qing, checking the charge on her captured rifle.

"Can you keep going?" Lin Qing asked quietly.

Su Yun touched the tender skin behind her ear.

The burned-out transponder was still embedded beneath it, but the red light had disappeared.

"I’m not letting Sterling get away," she replied.

Lin Qing nodded. There would be time to talk about what had happened later. For now, they had another floor to reach.

Han Zheng raised his rifle toward the service panel.

"They didn’t escape," he said. "They just trapped themselves at the top of the tower."

He glanced back at his team.

"Tier Three is holding. Tier Two is ours."

His finger settled against the trigger.

"Now we’re going up to Tier One to finish this."